Light-emitting diode (LED) light sources (i.e., LED light engines) are often used in place of or as replacements for conventional incandescent, fluorescent, or halogen lamps, and the like. LED light sources may comprise a plurality of light-emitting diodes mounted on a single structure and provided in a suitable housing. LED light sources are typically more efficient and have longer operational lives as compared to incandescent, fluorescent, and halogen lamps. In order to illuminate properly, an LED driver control device (i.e., an LED driver) may be coupled to the LED light source for regulating the power supplied to the LED light source. The LED driver may regulate either the voltage provided to the LED light source, the current supplied to the LED light source, or both. Examples of LED drivers are described in greater detail in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 8,492,987, issued Jul. 23, 2010, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0063047, published Mar. 14, 2013, both entitled LOAD CONTROL DEVICE FOR A LIGHT-EMITTING DIODE LIGHT SOURCE, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
As the electrical infrastructure changes to accommodate renewable energy sources (e.g., wind power, photovoltaic solar power, fuel cells, etc.), it is likely that there will be a movement towards direct current (DC) power distribution as this is the native version of generation for many of these technologies. For example, photovoltaic solar arrays generate DC power and often this is directly stored in batteries. From there, power may be drawn directly from the battery bank as direct current (DC), or it may be inverted to alternating current for use by appliances. With this anticipated move to a DC power bank, it would be desirable to use power directly as DC power rather than convert it to AC power. Many AC electrical loads actually require DC power to function and traditionally require rectification to render the AC power useful to the electrical load. Many AC electrical loads also employ active power factor correction (PFC) so as to minimize production of unwanted harmonics on the AC mains. However, the rectification and active power factor correction operations introduce an efficiency loss.
Finally, existing electrical panels (e.g., lighting panels) typically include only a minimum amount of hardware for controlling the operation of the electrical load, with most, if not all, of the power conversion and load control functionality residing remote from the panel at the electrical load. For example, electrical panels typically provide AC mains voltage to attached electrical loads, and the electrical loads typically include the required processors, converters, and controls necessary to convert the received AC mains voltage into appropriate driving voltages for the electrical loads. For instance, typical light fixtures include not only the light emitting elements themselves, but also the hardware and software (e.g., LED driver, ballast, etc.) required to convert the received AC mains voltage into a driving voltage for the lighting load. This tends to result in expensive and bulky lighting fixtures.